Optery vs. Incogni

The data big tech companies have on us plus the amount of information broker sites collect is shocking. But, you most likely already know that if you’re here. Congratulations, deciding between Incogni and Optery probably makes you one of the 6 percent of American adults who have used data removal services. While both of these companies do an excellent job of scraping your personal information off the internet, there is one that stole the show in more than one category.

In this article, we reviewed and compared two of our favorite data removal services, Optery and Incogni, to see how they stack up against each other. You’ll learn more about how the companies got their start, what security measures they take, what using each service is like, what features are offered, and so much more. Essentially, we tried out all the qualities that make up each service so you could make an informed decision before subscribing.

Quick Overview of Incogni and Optery

While Incogi might not be as instantly recognized as Optery or some of the top services in the industry, it does come with a strong backing from Surfshark. From our tests of Surfshark, it consistently outperforms other leaders in its market, so we have to take that into consideration.

>> Read More: Surfshark Antivirus Review & Pricing in 2024

Optery was launched in 2020 and has since cemented its position in the data removal industry. We like it because it removes data from over 335 brokers and people search sites, including Google. They also offer tools that help you remove your data from the internet on your own — if that’s more your speed.

On the flip side, we have Incogni, which was founded in 2022. Even though it’s a bit newer to the market, we found that it does an excellent job of removing your data from more than 180 sites for you. Not to mention, they add sites to target on a regular basis. That includes data brokers, paid sites, and people search sites.

Both services prioritize your personal digital security and keeping your data protected. They never sell your data to any third party, including data broker sites. Their goal is to keep your personally identifiable information protected.

Privacy Policies

Right off the bat, both of these privacy policies felt cohesive and similar. After reviewing both in extreme detail (yes, we actually read through them), it was clear both companies prioritize user safety and data privacy online. That wasn’t a shock to us, given the industry they’re both in, but we were glad to feel protected.

>> Learn About: Securing Confidential Personal Data Both Online and Offline

Optery’s policy highlights a lot about its commitment to your privacy and dives into how they never sell your data to anyone for any reason. We had to read and scroll a bit before finding Incogni’s same commitment to our privacy. Ingoni’s privacy policy seemed to center around how they handle data, so their transparency and timely deletion of your data.

The differences were slight, and more in the language than in what they actually protect. It’s clear that Optery focuses on the management of its users’ data and Incogni on privacy compliance. Like we said, we felt equally safe and protected after reading through their policies.

User Experience

Features and cost of a service are clearly important, but what good do either of those do if you can’t use the service? That’s where user experience comes in because being able to easily access all these great features means you actually get what you’re paying for.

So, taking a look at Incogni and Optery, we dug deep into their platforms, customer support, reporting, and just how easy it was to use their services. Here’s our first impression:

• Navigation: Both Incogni and DeleteMe have modern, sleek, and easy-to-use dashboards. They’re stacked with information, but neither feels overwhelming or confusing. From pricing and subscription information to logging in and first seeing its user interface, we felt both were straightforward. We appreciate it when a service as high level as these doesn’t require you to be a data expert or the tech-savviest person in the room.

• Reporting: Optery gave us clear, visual reports with tons of easy-to-read data. On the other hand, Incogni seemed to put less effort into the amount of detail they shared with us. We also did not like the amount of opt-out emails we received after starting the removal process with Incogni. It was a lot. That doesn’t mean Incogni is ineffective; it isn’t. We were left wanting more out of their reports and more control over who reached our inbox though.

• Transparency and clarity of information provided: Both services offer basic information about your privacy, but Optery stood out to us. Optery offers a lot of transparency around the data they find. They provide screenshots with every possible detail of your profiles on different databases. In terms of company-wide transparency, they were both similar. Incogni is also a reputable service that continuously makes it known how dedicated it is to being transparent.

Customer Support

When we started engaging with customer support and evaluating our options, within seconds we gave the win to Optery. The reason is simple: Optery goes above and beyond in offering multiple avenues of communication and Incogni does not.

Optery has perfected its customer support and offers multiple options, including live chat, a help desk, email, phone support, social media, and step-by-step guides. So, if you can’t reach them via live chat you can call them up or send them a DM.

When it comes to Incogni, while they do offer helpful step-by-step guides, we don’t entirely count that as customer support as much as an additional resource to their support. Incogni’s customer service is limited to email only, and while they are responsive and effective, we like having options.

Cost and Subscription Plans

Both Optery and Incogni offer multiple plan tiers and options to save money. They each offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, which we like. If you’ve ever gone shopping even once you know you have to try something on to know if it’s a good fit. The same logic applies here.

With Optery, we do like that they offer both personal and business plans. And, perhaps, our favorite part of Optery’s subscriptions is the Free Basic option. When we joined, we started with the Free Basic plan and their effectiveness as a service was apparent even at its most basic level. For paid users, there’s always the option to switch to yearly billing to save even more.

With Incogni, we also love that we have more than one option. If you have friends and family interested in protecting their data, you could easily split a plan with them and save yourself some money. And, unlike some competitors, we like that we can choose between monthly and annual plans from Surfshark. On top of that, Surfshark runs deals on a regular basis. The one thing we didn’t like about how Incogni shares its pricing is that we had to do our research to find out how many removals they offered at each tier. The lack of transparency there docked it a few points in our book.

Let’s take a look at each plan in a bit more detail:

Features

Features are usually what tips the scale for what service gets picked over another. We don’t know about you, but we want to get our money’s worth, regardless of what product or service we buy. So, let’s take a look at the features offered by Optery and Incogni to see which one gets us the most bang for our buck.

Recap: Optery vs. Incogni

Optery and Incogni are without a doubt two of the most prominent data removal services in the game. They both offer effective methods of removing your data from the internet, further protecting yourself from identity theft, fraud, spam, scammers, and more. Ultimately, choosing between the two depends on preference, budget, and data removal needs. If you’re still on the fence, let us help you decide.

Pick Optery if you’d like…

While Incogni held its own in our comparison, it was clear that those few years Optery had of being on the market longer really made a difference. Overall, we found that its privacy policy was easier to digest, it had more customer support options, and it had a bit more flexibility in pricing and plan options. Optery also removed data from more broker sites with paid plans; it provided more frequent and detailed reports. If more is the name of the game for you, go with Optery.

Pick Incogni if you’d like…

We appreciated Incogni’s dedication to user privacy and data security, its similarly flexible pricing plans, and its 30-day money-back guarantee. Incogni stood out for its simplicity and efficient processes, which rely heavily on automation. And while they had fewer options to reach their support team, when we did engage with them via email, they were responsive, quick, and efficient. As for their report frequency, while it’s less often than Optery, we’ve found that quarterly gets the job done. After all, that’s what the top identity theft protection services with credit monitoring go with for your credit report.

>> Related Reading: 2024 Incogni Review